How Can I Plan An Inexpensive Reception After Our Destination Wedding? – Ask The Expert Answer

Question from Tessa:

Hello!  My fiance and I are getting married in Mexico this coming May and we are planning to have a reception back in Calgary and I keep going back and forth on things and can’t make up my mind.  When I see my wedding I see simple elegance.  In Mexico is where I want to focus a lot of the elegance but I don’t want paper plates at my reception.  What it the most cost effective way to achieve this?

Answer from Bridal Expert Angela:

Hi Tessa, and congratulations on your upcoming destination wedding! 

The most cost effect way to do your Calgary reception is to think outside the box.  I am assuming you are having some type of wedding reception in Mexico right after the wedding. 

You can have your Calgary reception in someone’s beautiful backyard, and instead of a formal sit down dinner, plan for a BBQ, or garden party.  One of the loveliest receptions I have ever attended was in the formal gardens at a city park.  They had "wine bars" set up strategically around the gardens, a little stage at one end of the gardens where musicians played, and waiters walking around passing out hot hors d’oeuvres to the guests.  They had tables and chairs strategically placed around the gardens, and people walked, looked at flowers, sat and visited.  It was a lovely evening.

Or, if you want to have it at a hotel, opt for an afternoon cocktail party with a champagne buffet, hors d’oeuvres, etc.  Another way to reduce costs is to have a more formal reception on a week night or Friday evening when hotel costs are lower.

If you have a favourite restaurant, could you take over the restaurant for one night and have your reception there?  Those are some ideas.  If you are more specific in what you are thinking you might like to do, I could probably suggest other things.  Enjoy!

Angela Fiebelkorn, Ask The Expert